


On Falling and Drowning

by BrokenBones (Hikarinimichitasora)



Series: One Shots and Writing Prompts [5]
Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: M/M, STID
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-17
Updated: 2013-08-17
Packaged: 2017-12-23 19:20:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 578
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/930146
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hikarinimichitasora/pseuds/BrokenBones
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It doesn’t come as a surprise to be falling. Leonard has got used to that feeling around Jim, although it’s not usually quite so literal.</p>
            </blockquote>





	On Falling and Drowning

**Author's Note:**

> Just a flash fic I did quickly while I had a muse for it today.

It doesn’t come as a surprise to be falling. Leonard has got used to that feeling around Jim, although it’s not usually quite so literal. His stomach is churning, he feels like he left it somewhere behind on the scarlet covered cliff edge and he’s plummeting, falling deeper and deeper.

He can hear himself screaming, and fear is like electricity, his heart feels like it’s going to stop any second. He glances at Jim, he has time, it’s a long drop, and sees the other is grinning. Of course he is. He’s an idiot. He probably hasn’t even considered the fact that they could fall on rocks or come across an errant stray tide that could pull them under, drown them. He hasn’t thought about the wind that might dash them against the cliffs or that there might be sea plants they could get tangled in.

The water hits Leonard like a wall. He feels it, icy cold all around him. He closes his eyes tightly to stop the salt water getting into them and kicks his legs. They tangle in the stupid robes they are wearing and he feels the fear morph, no longer electricity but now ice, cold and cloying. Instead of going up, towards air and safety he can feel himself being dragged down.

His last words are going to be “Jim the beach is that way!” followed by his curdling yell as they fell into water. He always knew his last sentence before he went would have  _something_  to do with Jim. He’d always thought it would be ‘Damnit Jim’ or perhaps ‘Thank you Jim’. Once he entertained the thought of ‘I love you Jim’ but that is too soppy even for him to contemplate.

He struggles to try to get out of the goddamn robes, pulling at them, unable to see as his lungs burn with the effort of holding his breath. If he could just get them off, he’d be able to get to his mask and  _breathe_  goddamnit.

He starts to panic and knows that the reaction is stupid but he can’t help it. He’s a doctor, not a deep sea diver, and he has no idea how to react in this situation.He knows he has about ten seconds left before he’s going to start getting oxygen starved and instinctively try to breathe in the water.

He feels a hand, warm against the cold brine, slide behind his neck. He feels lips brush against his own before he feels a mask slide onto his face. He gulps the air greedily, knowing it must be Jim who saved him (unless this planet has goddamn  _mermaids_ ).

He feels himself being stripped of the troublesome robes and then he’s free of their weight. He kicks instinctively, up, up to the surface. When he finally breaks it he flicks his face to the side, trying to dispel water from his vision. The salt stings his eyes and water drips down across his face from his hair.

Jim bobs up next to him, grinning and letting out a small ‘whoop’, paddling over to him and retrieving his own breathing apparatus from around Bones’ neck.

"God _damnit_  Jim! You almost got us killed!” Leonard hears himself scolding. Jim’s eyes are bright and vibrant and he looks beautiful, hair darkened by the water, cheeks flushed from holding his breath.

"It’s alright Bones. I’d got you," he replies and Leonard feels himself fall just a little bit further.


End file.
